JEFFREY LURIE: I feel like we were just together, same place -- I mean, same city just a few weeks ago. I didn't want to just use that and say let's not get together. It's always nice to get together. I saw a few of you at the party last night, and it's always really enjoyable for me to mix with both the other football teams and the media. I think it's important. It's great to be able to see another side of each other. I'm always appreciative of that.
Just to say a few things and then open to any questions really, incredible 2022-2023 season, nothing short of incredible. I give my heart and soul to this franchise, as so many of us do, and so it was heartbreaking to not win the final game, but incredible pride for the whole season, being NFC champions, and we played an excellent team with a Hall-of-Fame coach and an incredible quarterback. We came up short in that game, but I've got to tell you, I'm just incredibly proud of the success in that entire season. It was a dominating team, dominating in the playoffs, dominating in difficult conditions, in every situation. Very, very impressive.
We'll talk more about it; that's to the credit of our group of players, our culture, our terrific head coach and his staff, outstanding general manager and his staff, and just so many people in the building. There's been a few articles I know written about people that are unknown, and I can't tell -- the guys that are close to our culture and our team know, there are so many unknown people in that building, and none of this happens without them. Really none of this success happens. Some of the decisions are on-field decisions. Some of them are just resources, equipment, analysis, support in every possible way, nutrition, injury prevention. There's so much that goes into this.
We can talk a little bit about that, but -- you know, I think I'm so happy that our players, our coaches, and they mirror myself, as well, just hungry to bring back another Lombardi to Philly. The fans deserve it. Our team deserves it. Our culture begs for it, and we've got a very, very hungry group of executives, people in the building, players and owners. That bodes well.
The last thing I'll just say is this is the season we'll reintroduce the classic kelly green, and I'm super excited. I don't know what date that's going to be, but I think the fans will love it. It's why we're bringing it back. We really took the feedback seriously over the years, and the first moment we could get the kelly green helmet approved, we'll finally be able to see it on the field.
I think that's pretty much it to open up, and we'll keep this short because we just spoke, but I'm happy to answer your questions.
Q. What are your thoughts on the NFL's proposal to make games flexible from Sunday into Thursday night?
JEFFREY LURIE: So it's an ongoing discussion, as you may know. It was brought up.
It's a big jump to have an NFL package on streaming. We know we're headed to a very digital universe. More and more people are watching games through streaming. I think we know that's where it's all headed.
So there's an attempt at wanting to make the Thursday night package even more attractive. You know, there's ways of doing that. We could allow teams to be on there more than once and not require every team to have to be on there so that you can create some match-ups in May when you're doing the schedule and try to have somewhat of a better series of match-ups for Amazon and for the ratings and for the fans on Thursday night.
Flex scheduling, we'll have to see. There's more talk about that. Nothing has been resolved on flex scheduling for Thursday.
Q. Five years ago obviously you guys won the Super Bowl, and you've kind of faced similar challenges now with Jalen's contract. How do you view the process that needs to be taken here to make sure you guys can maintain this level moving forward with a franchise quarterback contract?
JEFFREY LURIE: Right, right. We've seen teams do it. We're challenged to be one of those teams.
I think the most important aspect of that is to have the right quarterback. Assuming you have the right coach, the right staff, the right general manager, their staff, the right culture, all that goes into -- all the resources necessary. But then you've got to have -- I think it's so helpful to have a dynamic quarterback who's a great leader, a special person, and someone that is so hungry and not just to win it once but to win it multiple times and obsessed.
I think that mentality combined with what I said in terms of the coaches, coaching staff, Nick leading the way there and Howie, it bodes really well.
Now, of course you've got to manage the resources in terms of the salary cap differently, and so you've got to try to have a probably higher volume of draft choices. You've got to be able to have a great development program. I think we are pretty awesome in how we prioritize player development. It's huge for us.
Jalen is a great, great example of that, Jordan Mailata. That's key because you're not going to be able to out-dual on cap resources teams that have rookie contracts for their quarterbacks.
But the hardest part for sure is the scarcity of really good quarterbacks. We've got one, and we've got a very special player and individual in that category, in that position.
It's a good question, and it bodes really well for us.
Q. Since the last time we spoke with you, both coordinators and a few coaches left. What did you see from Nick in the search to replace those people, and was it in line with what you want the head coach to do?
JEFFREY LURIE: Yes, it was. He had made it very clear during the season that we have an outstanding, outstanding quarterback coach in Brian Johnson, and so he was going to go through an interview process, but he was very, very hopeful that we wouldn't lose Brian because there were several teams looking to sign Brian, and we didn't know if Shane was going to be a head coach.
We were plenty concerned, very concerned that we would not have Brian to both promote and sort of have the benefits of somebody who's worked with Jalen and works great with him and has the respect of everybody in the building. On that level, that was sort of a planned succession, and I was just really happy for Shane that he got that job.
The other thing is he was relentless, Nick was, and this is something I really appreciate about him. He not only grinds on football and on connections and culture, but when it came time, and this was a first for him, when it came time to how to figure out who's going to replace the coordinator you lost, he was relentless. He might interview five, 10, 15 people, talk to 100 people in terms of the due diligence.
He's as relentless in that as -- and that's big because you're going to lose -- when you're successful, I don't have to tell you guys, you're going to lose a lot of staff and you're going to lose them quickly. You've got to not just rely on connection -- in terms of who you know, who you worked with, who gave you a job beforehand. Those are rules that we don't really believe in, and we think there's an advantage to having a head coach who truly does the due diligence and is sort of a grinder at it.
I don't know if he told you, but when he was interviewing for linebacker coach recently, and I think defensive backfield coach, too, he called me and said, yeah, I just finished my 12th interview for the linebacker coach. 12th interview. And these are not short interviews. These are grinding interviews. He knows more than I would know about what those interviews are like, but they're not hi, nice to meet you. They're grinding interviews. He did 12 for the linebacker position. Found his guy. I think the guy was formerly at Temple, and he just did the same with a defensive backfield coach.
So I love that. That's much more what I believe in. That familial kind of approach or nepotistic type of approach, you see it a lot, and you've got to try to avoid that. There's so many great coaches.
Another plus for him was bringing in Brian Johnson who he didn't even know, and we got into this position where Shane got hired and we've got an outstanding young coach there.
Q. There was a report that you tried to get Jonathan Gannon to stay. We know that Jeff Stoutland has signed some new contracts. How much do you view your willingness to pay for those positions as an advantage against the rest of the league?
JEFFREY LURIE: Yeah, it's certainly an advantage. It's not an advantage to keep somebody that's going to be getting a head coaching job. That's tough to retain someone. Those jobs are so scarce. They're very highly paid today, and there's virtually no way to retain someone who gets one of those coveted positions.
However, with Jeff Stoutland and others in the past, Jim Johnson, there's some great examples, we will go to outstanding lengths and pay them just about the most in the league in order to retain them if we think they are incredibly talented and in a very important position. Obviously we've done that with Stout every year.
Q. You've handed out a few franchise quarterback contracts. I'm curious as you embark on this one, what do you think you've learned from the past ones that you've handed out?
JEFFREY LURIE: You know, it's a great question. Every quarterback is different. Donovan is different; Carson was a unique situation and suffered a lot of serious injuries right after the contract; and Jalen is very different from those two.
The thing with Jalen that I'm so optimistic about is he's just got this incredible -- I'm not telling you anything you don't know here, but seeing him virtually every day, he's got an incredible passion for being phenomenal. You see that in the great ones. We all know in other sports and with certain quarterbacks in this league, you can define them by their obsession with detail and work ethic.
We always knew Jalen was talented, had a very live arm that we thought was discounted in college because he was such a great runner and his character was always considered great, but maybe the advantage we had was we really respected his ability to throw the football and that that would improve based on tremendous work ethic.
I think the future is so great for him. He's 24 years old. Honestly, I don't know if I've ever met somebody that mature at age 24. I'd like to think I have -- my son is 27, he's very mature -- no, Jalen is the most mature 24-year-old I've ever come across.
It's different. Each franchise quarterback is different. But I've always said to you guys, quarterback, GM, coach, facilities, stadium, scouting, those kind of things, those are the keys. Once you can find it, that's when you're really excited. We'll be working with Jalen I'm sure for a long time.
Q. A few weeks ago the NFLPA released their report cards for each team. Did you get a chance to see it?
JEFFREY LURIE: I didn't. I didn't get a chance to see it, and we haven't really kind of got all the data behind it, so we're very data oriented and we're very hungry to know anything that we can do better, we want to do better, but it has to be based on real data. So you've got to see who really got interviewed and sample size and all that, but we're always open -- I was glad they did it, and I encourage us to analyze it and anything we can improve, I'm there.
Q. The staff on all levels got very high marks. Facilities was something that was said could be improved upon. Is there something that you see -- I know the footprint is limited in south Philly, but in terms of improving the facilities?
JEFFREY LURIE: I couldn't answer that for you really. What we would do is do a whole due diligence with every single department on what can be outstanding for them and provide the resources to make it given the footprint we have. Our philosophy never changed, just be the best you can be every day.
Q. It seems like a lot of the teams it's a wide sweep in regards to the rule change for adding the No. 0. I was wondering if you could provide a little bit of origin on where those conversations came from with the team?
JEFFREY LURIE: So what happened there was -- and Jon Ferrari is very involved in this, and in this case Greg Delimitros, our equipment manager. I don't know if you know, but remember they changed some of the numbering systems a few years ago, and we were kind of running out of numbers for certain things, and so we wanted I think kickers, punters to have an added number 0 or another player with 0 just to give us more flexibility. It's giving you a little bit more flexibility, and if anyone brings up 00 next year, I'll probably vote for it.
It's not that big a deal, but I think Jon Ferrari and Greg got together and said, let's introduce this, and I was supportive.
Q. Getting back to the coordinators, we've seen many times teams have three minority coordinators when it comes to --
JEFFREY LURIE: Right.
Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on that situation that you don't find in the league.
JEFFREY LURIE: Good question. I don't want to take credit for the fact that we have three minority coordinators. They were the best at each time of being interviewed and the due diligence. It might not have worked out that way, but these were -- Brian Johnson we see as someone very talented, Sean Desai the same, and Michael we've worked with before, and a very young and developing coach.
We're open to it. We're colorblind. We just want the best. It just worked out that way. I don't want to have us take any credit for it.
Q. You mentioned your son; since we last talked to you you said he was going to take more of a role, get an official title. How is that coming and what are his responsibilities?
JEFFREY LURIE: Right. My goal for him is to have him be able to experience as much of the franchise as possible, both on the business side and the football side and the community side, and that's being involved in numerous ways of being part of the conversation, part of the research, part of the execution and part of the key discussions on major things and minor things.
The most important thing is not only does he love being there, he's extremely humble, and he grew up in Philly to this football family, and he's unbelievably passionate. I feel like I bleed Eagle green every single day, and every time I go to bed, I'm going through the roster. He's like that in every aspect. He wants us to be better and better, and as I said to you before, by the time he has a chance to take over, he will be so much more prepared than I ever was.
But he's involved in a lot, and yet he's learning at the same time, so it's a great combination.
Q. Aside from working around a potential franchise quarterback contract, what can you look back at from five years ago when you were in a window where you're trying to maximize your likelihood of winning a championship that you maybe can take lessons from?
JEFFREY LURIE: Well, I don't want to give away too many clues, but we certainly learned from it in certain ways, and I think -- like for example, this year we thought about whether we should re-sign some of our older players, but then what we really decided was -- and this is more Nick and Howie than me, that they're playing at such a high level that it was a smart thing to bring back Jason Kelce and BG and Fletch at different levels. You don't want to just take something that you would worry about if actually they've been playing great. So there's a good example. Try to retain key players and know when you think it's not smart to spend the money that way or to -- you have to allocate resources.
I think we have got a -- you need a mix of older players, younger players, draft choices, vets, up-and-coming players, players you're developing from, lesser known players from the practice squad or bottom of the roster, and you need all that.
I think the Chiefs were a good example. They had to let go and trade Tyreek Hill, but they were able to draft McDuffie and Karlaftis, and they're going through a transition, and you're going to have to do that when you have a franchise quarterback not on a rookie deal.
I think that the teams that can develop their players, draft well, use the resources in free agency selectively, and there's a lot of off-field things. You want the culture to be great. You want to have an outstanding program in injury prevention, which is multivariable, involves nutrition, training, practice schedules, alternative modes of therapy and things like that, mental health awareness. There's so much that goes into it, and I say there's so many unknowns of people in the building, I could give you 30 people that without each of them performing really well, we're not talking NFC championship.
Q. Players like Fletch and BG and Kelce, Lane Johnson said they started their careers, they want to end their careers as Eagles. What does that mean to you?
JEFFREY LURIE: I know what we have as a culture. I know how close we all are, whether it's owner-player, coach-player, GM-player, just the camaraderie of the players themselves, the people in the building with those players. They mean an awful lot.
But it's not always possible. You could have -- in every sport, you're going to have maybe the last year or two of a player on another team. It's the way it goes. It's the use of resources. But when it happens, it's a beautiful thing.
Q. Just on the people in the building, last year you lost several people to other organizations for like assistant GM jobs. What has stood out to you about the people who were elevated and the people who were brought in since then?
JEFFREY LURIE: Yeah, great question, and this also -- I just want to say, Howie, you can't underestimate the job he's done the last few years to elevate from the Super Bowl team, to having to deal with every issue you possibly can deal with in terms of trying to get back to the Super Bowl again. It's a tough job, and he's got a great staff.
They're unknowns. Those assistant GMs became GMs because they are so well trained, and they're not just trained on scouting, they're not just trained on analytics. They're not just trained on football ops in certain ways.
The reason it was brought up at one of the meetings today, and I think Howie was asked to speak on it in front of all the owners; he and the organization trains these people. They're talented to begin with, but they have multiple responsibilities. They get access to everything. They're not just here's the scout. That scout needs to understand at some point how to use resources, why we do certain things, why the salary cap management takes place the way it is, what's the difference between the analysis on film and the analysis on data and how that collaborates and works together.
It's a culture of curiosity and information and instinct and all that. You're going to make mistakes, but don't ever -- you've heard me say this a lot: Never be risk averse. People didn't want us to draft Jalen Hurts because we had a quarterback. That's the most important position in sports. Take your shots.
Those were kind of no-brainers in terms of strategy. Whether it works out -- sometimes it's not going to work out, but take your shots.
He replaced those assistant GMs -- we were just talking about it today, with people that are extremely bright and have incredible futures, and some of them are going to be GMs in this league, and it won't be that long.
He thinks outside the box, not only on personnel, trades, acquisitions. It's a six-month, seven-month off-season. You don't participate for a week or two. It's every day for about seven months. It's a much more global view of roster building, looking at weaknesses of teams and who might be willing to trade a Gardner Johnson or entice a Linval Joseph to come back, or things like that.
One of the things I love about Howie is that he will bring in people that are not "yes" people, they are people that he admires from afar or that are just really bright, and another good example is bringing -- I don't know if we ever announced it, Andrew Berry's brother -- it's out there? Okay. This is just a really, really bright guy from Goldman, and it's very unusual to be able to entice somebody who has the same character and intelligence as Andrew in many ways, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't develop into a general manager in this league down the road.
That's what we do, and that's what Nick Sirianni does. These guys -- I don't want to repeat myself, but they're grinders. They're grinders. As an owner, when you have a quarterback that's an ultimate grinder and just incredible person, a coach that's like that, a GM that's like that, their staffs become like that, the culture in the building is based on a grinding philosophy. We're never satisfied. Whether we had won the Super Bowl or not, that hunger for more, that hunger for more. I have it, everyone has it.
Yes, I think about a minute and 43 left in the game, and one time, we got the ball at the 25-yard line, what would have happened. I would have liked that opportunity because we were built for it.
Q. In your experience is it more of a challenge to reach the point that you are right now or to sustain?
JEFFREY LURIE: I think they're both -- this is a tough league with -- it's physical and lots of unavoidable accidents happen along the way injury-wise. You know, you try to have the best team to believe, but on any given day, you might not.
But I think it's challenging to become NFC champs or NFL champs, and it's very challenging to sustain it, but it's very possible to.
I'm super excited what we can do in 2023-2024 going forward. I can't think of any reason not to be super excited.
Q. In the Super Bowl the defense struggled. Obviously you've been a proponent of seeing how the league is going to go in favor of offenses --
JEFFREY LURIE: Yeah, well, our --
Q. What's your view on the scheme that you guys have -- what you guys have had before --
JEFFREY LURIE: Yeah, I think I can answer it a different way, which is offenses dominate in this league, and we had an outstanding defense this year. I think we were No. 2 in defense, No. 1 or 2 in pass defense and record number of sacks and outstanding defense, outstanding offense. It was why we dominated the season.
You come to games with great quarterbacks, and Brady, Mahomes, Jalen, Nick Foles when he played that day. Offenses dominate in this league, and that's why we've always focused more resource allocation on making sure we have an outstanding offense, because it is very hard to stop -- I'll add Jalen to this list, the Jalen Hurtses, the Patrick Mahomes, the Josh Allens, the Joe Burrows, the young guns and the old guns, Aaron Rodgers, all that group. It's impossible given the rules of this league, and I think it was maybe started back with Andy, but we've always wanted to have dynamic offense and know that you can have a really good defense, but it's very hard to stop a really dynamic offense.
In our two Super Bowls, neither offenses really were stopped very often, and I'll go back, a minute and 43, one time, let's roll.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports